247/365: National Macadamia Nut Day

You’ll be saying “mahalo” when you learn about today’s food holiday. September 4 is National Macadamia Nut Day!

When you think of macadamia nuts, your mind probably wanders to the sandy, tropical shores of Hawaii. And with good reason: the Aloha State is the world’s largest exporter of macadamia nuts, churning out 95% of the world’s crop. Despite this close association, the buttery-flavored nut is actually native to the land of kangaroos, koala bears, and Paul Hogan. That’s right: it comes from Texas! Err…Australia, mate. Specifically, the rain forests near Queensland. Aborigines have been eating the seeds of this evergreen tree, known as gyndl or jindilli, for thousands of years. In 1857, a botanist named Baron Ferdinand von Mueller (hmm, do you think he was German?) named the nut after his friend, Dr. John Macadam, a well-renowened scientist and secretary to the Philosophical Institute of Australia. I’m not so sure that was a compliment, though? Sadly, Macadam died while sailing on a ship to sample the nut named after him. In 1881, William Purvis introduced macadamia nuts to Hawaii, where the trees were intended to serve as windbreaks for sugarcane. Nowadays, a trip to Hawaii is incomplete without a box of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. Production has fallen in recent years due to oversupply, with areas like California and Australia beginning to shell out (pun intended) more of the tasty nuts.

Growing up in Hawaii, I am very familiar with macadamia nuts. To celebrate, we had white chocolate macadamia nut cookies – one of my favorite flavor combinations!